


maybe today, or maybe tomorrow

by youheldyourbreath



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M, five times peter tries to give michelle a necklace and the one time he KIND OF does, he likes michelle so much, peter parker is an adorable disaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-07 00:44:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18862312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youheldyourbreath/pseuds/youheldyourbreath
Summary: Peter Parker knows how to buy a necklace, but he has no clue how to give it to the girl he likes. It feels like climbing a mountain and he is woefully out of shape.orthe five times Peter Parker tries to give MJ the necklace he buys her and the one time he actually, KIND OF, does.





	maybe today, or maybe tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> this is dedicated to @hollandings on twitter. it was their idea. and it is partially dedicated to @voldemost on twitter who told me all about it.

He buys MJ a necklace in a little shop in Venice. It is a thick, black stretch of jewelry that reminds him of Black Widow. Peter had only met her once, when he had been yanked out of Queens and dropped in Germany to fight Captain America, and their meeting had been more than brief. Still, he buys the necklace all the same and wonders how he can miss someone he had never really met.

The world now is a strange place. It makes him feel strange things.

Perhaps, he buys the necklace for other reasons, too. When he had first spotted the necklace, he had chanced a brief look at Michelle in the Venetian square. She was laughing at _Brad’s_ joke and, well, he left the little shop with a silver bag in hand.

It is more than a touch impulsive. Because Peter Parker knows how to buy a necklace, but he has no clue how to give it to the girl he likes. It feels like climbing a mountain and he is woefully out of shape.

* * *

He tries to give it to her for the first time that very day.

They are down by the docks after their very anti-romantic, class-wide gondola trip. Peter had learned nothing that entire boat-ride and opted instead to watch MJ, who was perched on the end of the boat the entirety of Mr. Harrington’s speech about water levels in Venice. There was something about global warming and rising sea levels in his explanation, but all Peter took in was how beautiful MJ looked with sunlight highlighting her curls.

 _Brad_ noticed, too. He lifted his camera and snapped an easy shot of her. Peter hated that his first thought was how much he wanted a copy of that print.

MJ slid her eyes over to Brad and squinted with disapproval. “Did I say you could take my picture?” she challenged.

Brad grew pale and when MJ turned around to glance at Peter he smiled. He couldn’t help it. She was, gosh— she made his insides flip.

She still does when they are all hovering down by the docks and Mr. Harrington takes a headcount of their class. He mumbles to himself about how he can’t lose another student on a class field trip. Peter ignores him in favor of approaching MJ.

She is laughing with Betty about something Ned said and Peter awkwardly joins the laugh. He has no idea what is funny. The girls look at him as if they know that, too. The discomfort stretches into eternity before Betty knowingly, because damn Ned can’t keep his damn mouth shut about _his_ crush to his damn girlfriend, slinks away.

Michelle blinks expectantly at him.

“Hey, uh, MJ,” he begins.

She tucks the one curl that always seems to fly loose of her signature ponytail behind her ear, “Yeah?”

The ground shakes.

Mr. Harrington yelps, “GLOBAL WARMING!”

“Woah, weird,” Michelle says.

The ground lurches, again.

And MJ approaches the edge of the water, bending down to squint at what might be making the world rumble. Peter tilts his head. Then, it all happens in slow motion.

The water explodes upward and the boats in the water flip over and a gigantic water monster rises from the depths and the screaming starts. Innocent bystanders are running up the stairs two-at-a-time and Ned is flying for Peter. The two friends are clutching each other. Ned pleads, “Dude, you gotta do something.”

Shit, Peter thinks. He had just really wanted one normal vacation. He forces the silver bag in Ned’s hand. He thoughtfully starts pushing him toward the stairs, to safety, “Uh, just don’t let them see me.” He means MJ. Ned nods. Peter rambles, “Go. Get out of here!”

As Peter starts to leap across the docks, he decides Venice might not be the place to give her his present.

* * *

The next time he tries to give MJ his present is in the Alps in Switzerland.

It is freaking cold and it bodes well for him the entire bus ride up the mountain where their lodge is located that MJ keeps inching closer and closer to him to “stay warm”, she says. Whatever the reason, he will take it. He likes having her so close. She is cuter up close and even though it makes his palms sweat, he really, really likes the proximity.

As they settle into the lodge, Peter claws the crumpled silver bag out of his backpack. Ned raises his eyebrow and smirks, “You gonna give that to MJ?”

Peter good-naturedly chucks a pillow at his best friend’s head, “You know I am.”

“Jewelry is very grown up,” Ned decides, as he flops down on his bed. “My Dad got my Mom a piece of jewelry when they first started dating and now they’ve been married, like, twenty-two years.”

Peter feels his cheeks heat up. He is seventeen years old. The idea of being with someone for twenty-two years is daunting. Even if that person is MJ. Even if that person makes his insides warm and his brain mushy and his heart beat wildly fast. Even then.

He goes into presenting her with the necklace with Ned’s words chorusing in his mind. Their entire class is huddled by the fire and Peter feels MJ’s shoulder brush against his every time she laughs.

Dumb Brad keeps saying charming, funny things and Peter knows he isn’t nearly as cool as him. Sure, he’s a superhero. But Brad learned to surf last summer and how is Peter supposed to compete with that?

The window to give her his gift finally opens when Flash pulls Brad into a conversation about his vlog channel, FlashNation. He lowers his voice to a whisper, “Hey, uh, MJ?”

“Yeah?” she playfully whispers back. They are so close. Their noses are nearly touching. He hadn’t noticed how close she had been sitting until she is facing him head-on and his heart stops. He hears Ned from earlier in his head. Twenty-two years is a long time. Jewelry is an adult commitment.

He chickens out. He shakes his head, “Uh, nothing. You just, you keep bumping into my shoulder.”

She looks embarrassed and a little hurt, like maybe she misunderstood something and he wants to take back all of his words. He doesn’t.

Later, when they get back from a class activity, she decides to sit next to Brad and he hates how much it stings.

* * *

He very nearly gives her the necklace in Prague. _Really_. Look, they have this moment. He knows it is a moment because he plucks up the courage to call her pretty and she calls him pretty, too. And then, they walk back to the hotel and their fingers almost brush and he is about to tell her—

When she cuts him off and tells him she knows he is Spider-Man. He forgets about the necklace after that. He is too utterly bamboozled by the Spider-Man admission. She is brilliant. He shouldn’t be surprised that she figured it out, but, damn, he has so many questions. Like, how long has she known? Why didn’t she tell him when she first figured it out? What gave him away?

He doesn’t get to ask her any of his questions, because then the world is exploding, FUCKING AGAIN, and he is off to save it. Prague ends up being a very distressing trip all around.

He nearly loses her to the Molten Man. So, when he sees her again at the end of the night and her face is smudged with ash, he doesn’t bother giving her the necklace. The necklace is dumb in the grand scheme of things.

Instead, he crushes her into his arms and squeezes her impossibly close.

He knows he is shaking.

She is tense for only a moment before she softens and tangles her fingers in his dirty hair. “Its okay,” she whispers, “I’m okay.”

He doesn’t let her go for a long time.

* * *

He remembers the necklace, again, when they travel to Berlin. He finds it buried at the bottom of his backpack and the silver bag is utterly ruined. The box that preserves the necklace is still fine.

He flips the box open and admires the necklace.

He really wants to give it to Michelle, but he doesn’t know how to now that she knows his secret. It feels like every time they are alone now, Spider-Man is this big, looming truth that hangs between them. She never addresses it. It is almost as if him being Spider-Man doesn’t matter to her in the slightest. She just wants to be involved.

But he cares. He cares a lot. Because everyone that has ever known his secret has been put in danger by it.

It is hard not to think of Tony.

He is still gazing at the necklace when Ned and MJ come bursting through their hotel room door. Ned is talking a mile a minute and Michelle is grinning so broadly it looks like her cheeks might hurt. Peter panics and shoves the necklace back in his backpack.

Ned stares at him. He knows about the necklace and he looks a little disappointed. But, well. It is more complicated now that MJ knows, now that MJ wants to be a part of the team. Ned isn’t allowed to judge him. He wants to keep MJ safe more than he wants to be with her and, for the record, he _really_ wants to be with her.

* * *

He thinks about giving her the necklace when they pass through this charming village in the Netherlands.  He even goes as far as tucking the box in his back pocket as the two of them explore the village. He weighed the pros and cons of telling her that he likes her the entire train ride to the Netherlands and every other minute he changes his mind.

He wants to be with her, but he doesn’t want her to get hurt. He wants to hold her hand, but if she figured out his identity, someone that wants to hurt him could, too. She has no idea the amount of danger she is in by just standing too close to him. He knows it is obvious how much he cares. It lights up his eyes.

Betty slyly points it out when the four of them are at dinner that night. “Your eyes are all bright and happy tonight, Peter,” she says, and he isn’t even annoyed. He knows she is right. Michelle ducks her head, as if she knows she might be the reason why.

After dinner, he walks her back to her hotel room as Ned and Betty go off to do things he does not want to think too hard about. Michelle gnaws on her lip and it drives Peter to utter distraction. “Well, uh, this is me,” she says, when they finally reach her door after a ten-minute walk steeped in silence.

Peter shoves his hands in his back pockets and it hits the box he had nearly forgotten was hidden there. He lifts his eyes up to her, she is a touch taller than him and he likes it, and nods, “Cool. Well, uh, thanks for hanging out tonight.”

She nervously drags some hair behind her ear, the same curl that he longs to wrap around his finger, and says, “Betty invited me. So.”

“Right,” he quickly agrees. “Right, of course she did.”

There is a beat of silence.

Then, two beats.

Michelle sweeps a kiss on his cheek. “G’night,” she barely voices before ducking into her room.

He stands frozen for a moment, staring at the closed door, before his lips slowly turn up in a smile.

It is halfway back to his own room that he realizes he never gave her the necklace.

* * *

He finally gives her the necklace in London. Sort of.

He is exhausted and half-asleep in the backseat of the car Happy is driving. She has her knees tucked under herself and she is wiping the blood from his face with some kind of cloth. Her touch is sinfully soothing. He wants to rest. “Hey, Peter,” she says softly, “You gotta keep your eyes open, okay? You have a concussion.”

He smiles, dopey and kind, “Hey MJ.”

“Come on,” she brushes a kiss on his tacky forehead, “Stay awake, Peter. Talk to me. Tell me anything.”

“I bought you a necklace,” he replies. It feels like a silly thing to say, but it is the first thing that comes to mind. And she wants him to speak. So, he continues, “In Venice. It is really cool. You’re really cool. I like you so much.”

He faintly hears Happy chuckle from the front seat. Michelle blots the cloth on his head thoughtfully for a few agonizing moments before touching something hanging around her neck. “You mean this necklace?”

Peter eyes go comically wide. “Yes,” he sits up. He feels very awake now. “Yes, that necklace exactly. Where did you— _Brad_ ,” he says, darkly.

She rolls her eyes, “No, Ned.”

In his delirious state, he is horrified that his best friend would dare make a move on the girl that he likes. He has Betty. How could he do this to him? It isn’t fair. He likes MJ so, so much. He likes everything about her. She is the best. And, Peter Parker, concussed and bone-tired, says all of this out loud.

Michelle leans forward and slants her lips over his and suddenly, finally, unbelievably she is  kissing him. It isn’t hard or demanding. It is featherlight and perfect. When she pulls away, his eyes are still closed.

She brushes her thumb against his cheek and his eyes flutter open, amazed. “When we ran back to the hotel to grab your suit, he threw me your backpack. I found it,” she explains. “Ned told me the necklace was for me and, I dunno, I just put it on. I didn’t really think about it.”

He cautiously, as if he is afraid she too might turn to dust in his embrace, cups her face and whispers, “I do like you. So much.”

She rests her forehead against his and smiles, “Thank you for the necklace.”

He kisses her this time and Mysterio, the Elementals, Europe and even the necklace is forgotten.


End file.
